Safety Problems for Long-Term Underground Storage and Final Disposal of Nuclear Materials

Abstract

The issues of long-term storage and final disposal of radioactive materials are important and inalienable components of the complex problem of nuclear material management; they are closely associated with ecological compatibility assurance for the whole process and nuclear weapons non-proliferation. Figure1 shows a fragment of scheme for nuclear material management indicating the location of storage facility for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from reactors of various purposes, ex-weapons plutonium and enriched uranium from dismantled nuclear warheads, as well as repositories for high-level wastes (HLW) and SNF in geological formations.